Water sports, such as swimming, body boarding, wading, snorkeling, jet-skiing and scuba diving usually require that the participant transition from land to water. The water transition can involve the participant encountering currents and waves which require a greater propulsive force to overcome than can be provided by bare feet alone. Typically, the water sport participant will have one pair of shoes for walking on land and the transition to water requires the removal of shoes and donning swim fins to achieve adequate water propulsion. Neoprene water shoes are often used by water sport participants for land purposes, including wading, but the transition to swimming usually requires that swim fins be worn over the neoprene water shoes, or that the water shoes be replaced by the swim fins.
The problem has always been that the wearing of swim fins prevents travel on land as any attempt to walk in swim fins is, for the most part, a futile exercise. Therefore, it has been the norm for water sports participants to don either swim fins, or shoes, depending on whether the environment is water or land, respectively.
There have been attempts in the prior art to create water shoes which merge the practicality of walking shoes with a swim fin appendage, but none have disclosed an embodiment of a functional water shoe that would allow a walker to walk in the shoe while the swim fin was in a deployed position. International Publication No. WO 2004/014496 to D'Annibale discloses a water shoe that requires the swim fin appendage to be detached and repositioned for transitioning between a walking and swimming configuration. United States Patent Publication Nos. 2009/0170388 and 2010/0203779 to Bonis et. al. disclose a water shoe having a retractable swim fin which is stored in an interior compartment within the shoe when it is not in use. The fin itself emerges from the compartment and is deployed like a fan. However, presumably when the fin is deployed, the user cannot walk because the fin must be retracted and placed back into the compartment in order for the user to walk in the shoe. U.S. Design No. D592,839 issued to the present inventor has illustrations of a shoe having a swim fin appendage, but represents mainly the “idea” of a swim fin shoe and does not describe how it is functionally accomplished.
The invention is a neoprene, polychloroprene, nylon, and polyester or rubber material like water shoe with a traction sole which is functionally a practical walking shoe, yet allows the wearer to enter a water environment with an attached elevated swim fin appendage which provides practical and real propulsion. The inventive neoprene, nylon, polyester or rubber material like water shoe integrated with a traction sole employs an elevated swim fin appendage joined to the shoe in a manner which allows normal standing and walking without experiencing obstruction between the elevated swim fin appendage and the ground.
The foregoing reflects the state of the art of which the inventor is aware, and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor, which may be pertinent to the patentability of the present invention. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing discussion does not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.